The Great Indian Cricket Show

Cricket is religion in India. Ppl may b illiterate or may not know country's PM or Prez, but they surely know abt cricket, n how India is faring.That is the reason the current spat between Indian coach Greg Chappell, and Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has taken so many inches of media space.
Since last 2 days, since that vituperative e-mail went public, media is losing no stone unturned and is coming up with their weirdest predictions about the outcome.Whatever be the result, Indian cricket has suffered a blow at least for now, and it will take some time and a brave will n effort to resurrect it.

Since the time Sourav Ganguly or Dada, as he is affectionately called, has taken hold of Indian cricket, it has seen the crest and the troughs in the history of Indian cricket, crests being reaching the World Cup 2003, and some miraculous wins like that of Natwest; and trough being the sad jinx of losing in the finals, which has still not stopped.
What brought this fluctuation, or is it normal, as every one cannot have the best of times all the time. It started with World Cup 2003 final, when India lost out due to some over enthusiasm or say lack of professionalism.Team started losing in one final after another, and it started to lose the charm it had, the charisma it had built with so much effort. It was no surprise that Team India was getting sick, and so was its captain. Ganguly lost his flamboyance with the bat, and was reduced to look pedestrian in every outing to the crease. It not only affected his morale, but indirectly contributed to team’s low. The writing was on the wall, but Ganguly and many other chieftains turned a Nelson’s eye to it.

They refused to see what was pretty evident to a kid in India. Some changes needs to be done.
Every time India lost, it was swept under the carpet saying team is going through a lean phase and it will soon recover.In between, they did get to win a few matches here and there, which allowed them to stick to their being deaf and dumb.

When Team India ran out of sorts, they tried to find a solution by not addressing the disease, but by changing the doc.So, with much fanfare, Greg Chappell was brought in, and everybody thought for a second that the problems will vanish by themselves. Greg, being a professional and a successful captain himself, saw the cause in just a matter of a few series.What he wrote in his report is now public fodder. And it may/ may not be substantiated by facts, but it looks to some extent, the bitter truth.
Senior players in India have always persisted with their places in the team, even if they don’t perform. Why don’t they understand that competitive sports is not won by emotions, but by competency and performance.The bowlers will not bowl slow to Tendulkar in later years, just becoz he had been a great batsmen.
If these players would have been in some other country, their career would have been far over.
It is just in country like India where Celebrity worship is given importance over accountability.

If a captain says, he has no clue to why India is losing in finals, it shows that he has completely run out of ideas, and to use Cheppell’s words “mentally or emotionally unfit to lead the side”.
Some accountability is required in any profession if one wants to be successful, n tht is wht Greg is trying to instill in the Indian team. As it is said old habits die hard, so is with these senior players.They are so used to being in their comfort zones, that they are not ready to accept any change in the status quo.For that, they can go to any limits. I would not be surprised if even some others like Laxman, Tendulkar lend their voices to Ganguly, coz if sthg happens 2 him now, it will b just a precedent for what might follow in their case.

So, Mr. Ganguly, if u really love ur country, if u love Indian cricket, if u hv ne respect for the fans’ sentiments, n if u don’t want urself to face the ignominy in later months for much worse than this,plz , for God’s sake, find a new profession.


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